Laurelle Rethke - Connecting with Crystals: Crystal Wisdom and Stone Healing for Body, Mind, and Spirit

Exploring crystals is a beautiful, mysterious, and magical experience. Many of us have a childlike fascination with these natural wonders, each with their own unique qualities and gifts that we may access. If you come to them with an open mind and a willing heart, they will lead you on a path of self-discovery to your authentic spirit. This truth has been my experience.

As a kid, I was mesmerized by crystals. In college, I wore crystals and collected rocks from locations that felt special to me. I sensed an energy, but I still didnt understand the fuller intricacies of it all.

When I next came to crystals, I was financially depleted and unsure of where I was headed. Id just left a career I loved that wasnt as fruitful as Id hoped, and I was still mourning the loss of my parents several years before. On my thirty-fifth birthday, I felt disillusioned and ready for a breakthrough. All I knew was that I wanted to feel connected again as I once hadto myself, to others, and to my work. I wanted to feel fulfilled and happy, but I didnt quite know how to get there. It seemed the only place to turn was back toward my esoteric and spiritual studies. After much wandering, an answer came when a friend invited me to the New Life Expo.

As we strolled the aisles, something suddenly drew me in. I asked my friend to hold on while I examined every stone on a table full of crystals. By the time we covered the whole fair, Id immersed myself in seven tables of stones! Looking back now, I realize it was almost as if they were communicating the information I needed to restart my journey. The enchantment with crystals I had first felt during a seventh-grade science class returned. These amazing creations called to me, and I wanted to understand why I was so fascinated by each one.

I began working with crystals intently, but in the beginning I didnt think I could feel the energy of the stones the way so many other people in my community seemed to. Then I had a realization that changed everything in the way I perceived my connection with crystals. I was already feeling them even though I didnt know it.

This same shift in perception can guide your discovery as well. We all receive extrasensory information in different ways. Focusing on the sensory ability we have the strongest connection with, whether naturally or through our life experience and training, allows us to strengthen the others. For many, picking up information visually is their first experience. Due to my life skills, this is where I needed to start to open all of my senses more fully and become conscious of crystal energies. Within a year, I could truly feel the stones, and within three years Id understood crystals through all types of extrasensory connections. With time, practice, and a little guidance, you too, will have these experiences. You will start to feel empowered. You will feel connected and open to the subtle energies all around you. You may feel the pull, like I did, to dive further into crystal healing modalities to deepen your journey or the journey of others.

Crystals have become very special to me, helping me shine my own light. The wisdom Ive gained by working with stones is immeasurable. In my years as a healing therapist, Ive enjoyed guiding others to find this wisdom within themselves. I have seen people use crystals to help heal physical diseases, emotional imbalances, sexual dysfunctions, mental challenges, and spiritual misalignments. Ive seen people let go of anger and regrets, never have a migraine again, find their faith in themselves, and manifest their desires. Crystals are powerful tools that help balance and heal us in a deeper and more holistic way than modern Western medicine currently offers. They help us begin a journey toward achieving a new kind of wholeness. While exploring crystals may seem a little daunting at first, it doesnt need to be. Think of each one as a beautiful mystery to discover and experience.

When I started to write this book, I was getting caught in my mind a bit about what to convey. My dear friend and humble teacher Frank reminded me that its not about myselfits about what the stones want to say. This simple reminder helped me connect once again in a deeper way to the symbiotic relationship we all inherently have with nature. A stone does not work all on its own. It works when we work with it. The human component is key. So this book is the story of the stones, and what theyve taught me in more than twelve years of working with them intensely (plus my previous eighteen years of using them casually). I hope to be a true and empowering guide on your journey into the magical world of crystals.

As you work with the stones, you too, will find that deeper connection and sense of self that crystals revealed to me. You too, will find the magic of being. Its all within you. Stones are one of the best teachers of this inner magic. They were here first. They know the way.

Please think of this book as a table full of crystals to explore.

LAURELLE

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

Albert Einstein

Beyond their sheer beauty, crystals are one of natures most potent healers and contain the essential components for creating life. As the first physical formations on Earth, they provided the elements needed for the waters to cleanse, for molecules to intermingle, and for plants to grow. Without rocks, we wouldnt have clean water to drink, nutritious food to eat, or the medicine that comes from plants. Many of the minerals within rocks and crystals are the same minerals found throughout our bodies. When we reconnect to the core of the Earth through crystals, we reconnect with the primordial nature within usto a time when everything was in balance for our minds, bodies, and spirits and we felt deeply connected to the Earth and each other.

Although crystal wisdom is new to many, it has been used for millennia to bring healing, luck, protection, and peace. Documented in depth by revered cultures and healing systems (like Ayurveda, classical Chinese medicine, the ancient Egyptians, and the Sumerians), these touchstones have been worn as amulets, used in meditation and ceremony, taken internally as elixirs or mineral medicine, and placed on the body. The ancients understood that crystals hold power and wisdom within them that opens us to the innate power and wisdom within us.

The Power of Crystal Energy

Crystals emit measurable energy, just as we do, and biological life wouldnt exist without them. With the science of mineral evolution now being explored, they are even beginning to be contemplated as a form of life themselves, known to evolve just as we do. Indigenous cultures of the world, more fully immersed in nature on a daily basis, seem to hold a similar belief in the consciousness of stones (as in all things). European alchemists, too, saw the One in everything and understood the relationship between the mineral kingdom and creation.